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Teachers' conceptions and misconceptions concerning three natural phenomena
Author(s) -
Kikas Eve
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/tea.20012
Subject(s) - psychology , subject matter , scientific misconceptions , motion (physics) , mathematics education , science education , subject (documents) , natural (archaeology) , simple (philosophy) , epistemology , pedagogy , curriculum , computer science , philosophy , archaeology , artificial intelligence , library science , history
This study focuses on the conceptions of trainee, primary, and subject teachers about three phenomena: the motion of objects, seasonal changes, and aggregate changes of matter. A total of 198 participants completed a questionnaire concerning two types of tasks. First, teachers evaluated the adequacy of a given explanation as compared to their knowledge of the contemporary scientific explanation. Four types of explanations were provided: a simple description, description with terms, an explanation with misconception, and a scientific explanation. Second, respondents answered multiple‐choice questions and substantiated their choices. The findings showed not only various misconceptions but also differences between the phenomena and the teacher groups. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 432–448, 2004